Dingo Love: Healthy Choices

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Love is Making Healthy Choices

Once upon a time, The Dingo was a very healthy guy. He was active, ate well, got plenty of sleep, planned his days accordingly and knew how to relax & enjoy himself, but one day, he hit a bump in the road and everything changed.

The Dingo was losing sleep, not exercising, eating more junk food, gaining weight and worst of all: he started stressing out big time! The Dingo felt like his life was out of control and he wondered, “How did things get so bad?”

As he reflected on the past few months he remembered the day he decided to skip his usual morning walk and instead headed to the local all-u-can-eat breakfast buffet. He normally treated himself to this fine dining establishment once in a while as a special treat, but that morning he decided he deserved an extra treat. After downing a stack of yummy pancakes smothered in syrup, he proceeded to indulge in a big ol’ heaping serving of biscuits and gravy. It was way more than he would usually eat, but he figured, “What’s the harm in a little extra snack?” Boy was he stuffed! He decided a nap was in order so he went home.

The Dingo had lots of stuff to get done that day and by the time he woke up from his nap, it was already noon! “Where had the time gone?!,” he thought to himself as he ran out the door wishing he had not forgotten to set his alarm clock. With a dentist appointment in less than 15 minutes and a boatload of errands to run, The Dingo was feeling the stress and big time. He didn’t realize it then, but his early morning decisions, caused a snowball effect of reactions that he did not plan for.

The Dingo’s usual routine was disrupted for several days, which turned into several weeks and eventually months. During this time he ended up eating lots of junk food because he didn’t have time to prepare his own meals. He also spent more money than usual because he was eating out more often and as a result, The Dingo couldn’t seem to save money or pay his bills on time. His bad diet affected his energy level, which in turn affected his sleep. Exercise & physical activity just about went out the window. All this stress kept him up at night, he always seemed to be running late and he found himself getting sick more often than usual! Sometimes it was stomach aches, sometimes it was colds, and sometimes it was just plain old sadness from feeling like his life was out of control. His mind, body and spirit felt unhealthy.

After spending some time reflecting, The Dingo figured out exactly what happened: because of a bump in the road that threw him off his normal routine, his usual good habits turned into bad habits. The bad habits were left unchecked for too long creating a domino effect of even more bad habits which eventually led to some pretty bad repercussions. But now, with some good planning and diligent effort, The Dingo is on his way to making healthy choices and getting back on the right track.

First, he looked up the word “healthy” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and this is what he found:

1: enjoying health and vigor of body, mind, or spirit : well

2: evincing health <a healthy complexion>

3: conducive to health <walk three miles every day … a beastly bore, but healthy — G. S. Patton>

4: a) prosperous, flourishing b) not small or feeble : considerable

After reading this definition, The Dingo decided right then and there that he wanted to enjoy being healthy in every area of his life again and this started by making conscious decisions regarding everything from his food choices & portions to his spending habits and anything in between. He was ready to be prosperous & flourishing again and to take control of his life once more. Not only was this good for him, but it was also good for his loved ones, who cared for him. The Dingo wanted to be a good example to others and he also wanted to be in a position that if someone else needed help, he was going to be in a healthy position where he could be that help.

With a smile on his face and a new healthy direction in life, The Dingo took out a pen and paper and made a plan.